Night at the museum
by Lorelei Candice Black
Summary: Set while Emma and Henry are in New York in Season 3, right before Hook comes along. Henry and one of his friends get locked inside the museum at night. Not as long as it could be but give it a chance please. No romance. Just a little adventure to make Henry believe in magic.


**_Night at the museum_**

 _Night at the museum/ Once Upon a Time_

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"Are you ready Henry?" Emma asked her son.

"In a minute." He called back from his bedroom.

"You're the one who wanted to go to the Museum of Natural history with your class this afternoon. I barely have time to drop you off to the meeting point as it is. I'm going to be late for my new case." Emma complained.

"I'm almost ready." he repeated.

"It's not like you're going on a date kid, it's a trip to the museum with your class. There's no need to look differently that you usually do." She chuckled.

"Okay, I'm ready now." Henry said, coming in the room with his jacket and backpack on.

"Finally, let's go." Emma told him before they both headed for the yellow bug.

"Are you sure you have to work on this new case mom? You could go to the museum with us. The teacher said that parents were welcome to come along." Henri told his mother when they sat in the car.

It was mid afternoon, the kids were going to spend the end of the afternoon at the museum, until it closed down, and after that, Henry would go spend the night with one of his friends, at his place, so they could play video games together.

"I know kid and I'd love to go along, trust me, but this case is for someone important, it could bring more cases our way. It means more money, which means vacations in the sun for us this summer!" Emma replied.

"Fine." Henry sighted.

"Are you still spending the night at your friend Mike's?" She asked her son.

"Yes. His parents are out of town but his grandmother will be there." He replied.

"I remember meeting her. Isn't she getting a bit old to watch over the two of you?" Emma asked him, remembering hearing that the woman was slowly loosing her mind.

"We'll behave." He assured her.

"I know you will, I trust you, kid." Emma smiled.

A few moments later, she parked in front of the museum and watched her son rushing to join his class. She stayed parked until the group entered the museum and left, knowing that her son would be fine.

.

Henry and his friend Mike were both very interested in history and in everything the museum had to show, which is why they accidentally strayed from the rest of the group without realizing it. They shrugged it off and kept on watching every exposition on their own. They weren't surprised to find themselves alone at one point, they knew that it was close to closing time and they figured people had simply left early. Not caring about anything else, they were both taken with what they were watching, in their own little world.

"What are you two boys doing here? The museum closed over 30 minutes ago!" A security guard with a name tag identifying him as " _Larry Daley_ " asked them.

"It did?" Mike asked.

"We got locked in? We swear, we didn't mean to, sir. We got separated from our class and forgot to look for them. We both just love this place so much." Henry replied.

"It's okay, I'll just call your parents to come and pick you up." He declared nicely.

"My mom's working, she won't pick up. I don't have a dad." Henry replied.

"My parents are out of town and my grandmother is deaf. She was going to keep an eye on the two of us tonight but she's probably already asleep." Mike added.

"Can't we stay here, please? We'd really like to finish watching everything." Henry pleaded.

"It's highly irregular. I can't just let you wander off on your own in the museum at night." The security guard replied shaking his head and starting to look nervous.

"Please? We promise we won't bother you. It's so cool to be on our own here. At night, it's like being in a whole new world." Mike pleaded.

"If anything happened to you while you were here, I'd be responsible." Larry shook his head.

"Nothing will happen to us, we'll be very careful." Henry insisted.

Before the security guard, Larry, could say anything, both of the boys turned their heads to the side to see the giant dinosaurs' skeleton that used to be in the entrance hall running in front of them.

"What was that?" Mike asked while Larry hit his forehead with his hand.

"Larry, have you seen the monkey? He stole my hat." A man who looked a lot like the statue of Teddy Roosevelt asked as he walked up to them.

"No, Teddy, I didn't. I... Oh, I'm in trouble." Larry replied, shaking his head.

"Oh, we have visitors tonight, don't we? I'm Theodore Roosevelt, boys. Who are you?" The living statue asked them.

"I'm Henry and this is my friend Mike. We got locked in the museum. Excuse me but, weren't you a statue when we saw you a little over 30 minutes ago?" Henry replied.

"Yes, I am. You two boys need to promise me to keep this a secret. Nobody can know that the museum comes to life during the night." The historical figure told them.

"We promise. Can we stay the night then?" Mike and Henry asked at the same time.

"Of course you can my boys. Have fun. Use that opportunity to question us and learn everything you can." Teddy replied before he excused himself to go look for his hat.

"Just, don't get in too much trouble, please. And don't trust the monkey. He's a thief." Larry shook his head before he walked further down the corridor, leaving the two boys to look around on their own.

During the rest of the night, the two boys enjoyed their time and interrogated every portrait, every statue and everything that moved and could reply. They didn't know if they were just dreaming, hallucinating or really seeing what they were seeing but they decided that it didn't matter, they were determined on making the most of this opportunity while it lasted.

Of course they'd keep the secret, it's not like anyone would believe them anyway.

When morning came, Larry drove the two happy boys back to Mike's place and they told the grandmother that they stayed with another one of their friends at the last minutes. She brushed it off and served them breakfast before Emma came to pick up Henry.

.

Henry wanted to believe that magic was real, that's why, that next day, he went to a wishing fountain and threw a penny inside, wishing for his mother and himself to find their family, to not be just the two of them anymore. he wanted to believe that it could happen, that magic existed.

A week later, a weird man dressed like a pirate with a fake hand came by their appartement. he seemed to know Emma and Henry knew that his mother wasn't telling him the complete truth when she told him that they were leaving New York for a while. It didn't matter, henry pretended he didn't suspect anything and went along, confident that his wish was coming true one way or another.

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 **I know it's short, i'm sorry. I got the idea for it but couldn't find enough inspiration to do it justice. If anyone wants to develop it, feel free to do it.**

 **Review please?**

 **Lorelei Candice Black**


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